Ok, just out of curiousity. How many of you had a bad experoence with the ships crew this year? We has items stolen out of our room this year, and the crew did nothing to rectify the situation. What about you guys???

Our stateroom steward was......adequate. He never brought ice in the ice-bucket when he refreshed the room and I think the same used soap sat in the soap-dish the entire time. We DID get two towel animals this year (one normal sized and one tiny), which was two more than last year.

Ours was adequate. No towel animals but we got fresh towels and made bed every day.

I've never had anything stolen. I use the safe for any small valuables like wallet and passport. Aside from that, I never bring anything that I'm not willing to lose. You can lose anything in a cab going to the airport, airline lose your luggage, hotel worker steal your stuff, RC staff steal your stuff, other cruisers steal your stuff..... it sucks, but some people just steal stuff.

Metaladdict187 wrote:Ok, just out of curiousity. How many of you had a bad experoence with the ships crew this year? We has items stolen out of our room this year, and the crew did nothing to rectify the situation. What about you guys???

We have never had any problems with the staff. That being said, we also don't allow them into the room the entire cruise. The staff has told us that legally if you put out your do not disturb sign they are not allowed to enter the room. They've done several studies showing that you're much more likely to get sick at hotels if you let staff into your room because they're touching everyone else's stuff as well as yours so that's the main reason I don't ever let them into mine when I travel. If we need anything extra we ask for it when we see them in the hallway. I can imagine not letting them clean a quad might be in issue though, so yeah use the safe.

Mine was great. Only complaint was there was an old piece of cake from the previous cruise left in our fridge, and when my roommate asked the attendant to remove it as it was smelly, he took it out and then stared at it for a minute while she tried to hurry him out of the room and held her nose. We did get a couple towel monkeys, though!

sara wrote:Mine was great. Only complaint was there was an old piece of cake from the previous cruise left in our fridge, and when my roommate asked the attendant to remove it as it was smelly, he took it out and then stared at it for a minute while she tried to hurry him out of the room and held her nose. We did get a couple towel monkeys, though!

Welli wrote:Hell yes, this was the first year we didn't get a single towel animal! Is it that we've been on our 7th cruise and have seen all of them? Or was it that our Steward didn't like us?

This was my fourth year on 70K. There was one year when we got towel animals, two years when we didn't, and then this year, when we got 1.5. I'm wondering if they aren't as much of a "thing" now on Royal as they are on other lines. (So, no, it might not be your steward having an issue with y'all.)

Carnival has a lot of fun with them. On a random morning during the cruise, weather permitting and VERY early after sunrise, they will sneak out and put a towel animal on EVERY lounger by the pool...more than fifty of them. They also have a free class each cruise on how to make them and they also sell a "how to" book.

No horror stories to report, the staff is always top notch and this year maybe a bit overly polite. I did notice more Indonesians as opposed to say Ukrainians, etc. I like the Russian gals, haha! It's hard to tell without asking where people are from though. I'm just assuming from who I ran into the most and 1st impressions.

For the 1st time in 4 years we did get one stuffed towel monkey on Sunday, but I failed to take a picture of that outlier.

The only horror story I have to report was the free coffee in the Café Promenade and Windjammer. The coffee there has always been adequate to me, but for some reason this year it was undrinkable. I had to put sugar in it to tame it. I don't know if they switched to a cheaper brand or they were burning it hard, but it was my horrible. Next year I'm taking my Folgers crystals.

Wishlist 2020: Ranked in order of:
1. Sheetz-my-panties and line up on the center rail for both sets if announced.Rotting_Christ-/-Hanzel_und_Gretyl-/-Heilung2. Never seen them live.Anaal_Nathrakh-/-Burning_Witches-/-Cattle_Decapitation-/-Combichrist-/-Dee_Snider-/-Gojira-/-Grai-/-Inquisition-/-Jinjer-/-Lovebites-/-King_Diamond-/-Rob_Zombie-/-Russkaja-/-Saturnus-/-Temple_of_Evil-/-Tengger_Cavalry-/-The_Heard-/-The_Hu-/-Vader-/-Vermilia-/-Visigoth-/-VUUR3. Seen them before and would love to see them on das boat.Amorphis-/-Babymetal-/-Behemoth-/-Insomnium-/-Lacuna_Coil-/-Meshuggah-/-Myrkur-/-Oceans_of_Slumber-/-Orphaned_Land-/-Sabaton-/-Sepultura-/-Therion-/-The_Iron_Maidens-/-Wolves_in_the_Throne_RoomSurvivor - 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19

slayergeek wrote:Actually I think this year I saw a HUGE improvement that has gone unacknowledged

No people pushing SPA treatments hardNo huge 'sales' kiosks blocking the main promenadeNo trying to shove the normal cruise crap down our throats

Well, except trying to get us to go to Giovanni's Table or Chops Grille. They pushed that a lot.

Sorry, Royal Caribbean. I realize that your "free" (included) food options are pretty limited on the Indy, but I'm not taking the bait and paying extra for a meal there.

BTW, it is not normal for the Windjammer to be closed every damned day between 5 and 7 pm. Per CruiseCritic, it must have been something negotiated between Royal and UMC. (It's also not normal procedure for it to be open until 5am, either.)

They seemed to have learned, we want music, booze, food, and band merch and everything else is a waste of everyone's time.

A lot of stuff seemed to be on the back-burner. Was the Flow-Rider ever open this year? In the past it's been open on embark day (mostly to show it off, I think), but this year it was dead, dead, dead.

Pellaz wrote:A lot of stuff seemed to be on the back-burner. Was the Flow-Rider ever open this year? In the past it's been open on embark day (mostly to show it off, I think), but this year it was dead, dead, dead.

Pellaz wrote:A lot of stuff seemed to be on the back-burner. Was the Flow-Rider ever open this year? In the past it's been open on embark day (mostly to show it off, I think), but this year it was dead, dead, dead.

I saw people riding it as we were playing mini golf just before we set off from Grand Turk.

sara wrote:Mine was great. Only complaint was there was an old piece of cake from the previous cruise left in our fridge, and when my roommate asked the attendant to remove it as it was smelly, he took it out and then stared at it for a minute while she tried to hurry him out of the room and held her nose. We did get a couple towel monkeys, though!

This was my third 70K, and I have yet to see a towel animal. I'm disappointed.

Our stateroom attendant was just OK. We had to actively chase him down twice to get more towels and he only gave us new soap once. He was also overly friendly, to the point where it was a little creepy and we started avoiding him.

We did have occasion to see the ship's doctor on this trip. On the first day, I opened the cabin door right as my roommate was leaning over to get something out of his bag, and the doorknob hit him right above the eye. There was blood everywhere...I can only imagine what they thought might have happened in that room. The doctor was super nice, and they called multiple times over the next couple days to check on him.

Otherwise, the staff was super friendly and nice, as always. I imagine this is a pretty easy cruise for them overall. No kids, no old people, and I'm guessing we're pretty low maintenance, as a whole.

Gratch wrote:...He was also overly friendly, to the point where it was a little creepy and we started avoiding him.

Yeah almost too friendly like those creepy greetings you get when you enter a Zupas, Jimmy John's or an In-N-Out Burger, "Hi how are ya, I'm your best friend, how you feeling today". Just knock that shit off, it's creepy as hell. Management enforcing creepy over-the-top politeness to customers from workers.

Gratch wrote:...We did have occasion to see the ship's doctor on this trip. On the first day, I opened the cabin door right as my roommate was leaning over to get something out of his bag, and the doorknob hit him right above the eye. There was blood everywhere...I can only imagine what they thought might have happened in that room. The doctor was super nice, and they called multiple times over the next couple days to check on him.... .

Sorry to hear that accident happened, I hope he is ok. He may not feel so well when he gets the bill. They charge direct to the billing account for the cruise. Visits to the sickbay are very expensive. Send the charges to the insurance company for reimbursement.

Wishlist 2020: Ranked in order of:
1. Sheetz-my-panties and line up on the center rail for both sets if announced.Rotting_Christ-/-Hanzel_und_Gretyl-/-Heilung2. Never seen them live.Anaal_Nathrakh-/-Burning_Witches-/-Cattle_Decapitation-/-Combichrist-/-Dee_Snider-/-Gojira-/-Grai-/-Inquisition-/-Jinjer-/-Lovebites-/-King_Diamond-/-Rob_Zombie-/-Russkaja-/-Saturnus-/-Temple_of_Evil-/-Tengger_Cavalry-/-The_Heard-/-The_Hu-/-Vader-/-Vermilia-/-Visigoth-/-VUUR3. Seen them before and would love to see them on das boat.Amorphis-/-Babymetal-/-Behemoth-/-Insomnium-/-Lacuna_Coil-/-Meshuggah-/-Myrkur-/-Oceans_of_Slumber-/-Orphaned_Land-/-Sabaton-/-Sepultura-/-Therion-/-The_Iron_Maidens-/-Wolves_in_the_Throne_RoomSurvivor - 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19

Pellaz wrote:A lot of stuff seemed to be on the back-burner. Was the Flow-Rider ever open this year? In the past it's been open on embark day (mostly to show it off, I think), but this year it was dead, dead, dead.

...i heard that it was expensive, so maybe that's why?

I think it's free, unless you request private lessons.

I noticed the Flow-Rider at Margaritaville was closed, which I thought was kinda funny. Not too often when a ship docks at Grand Turk with a Flow-Rider already ON the ship.

Pellaz wrote:A lot of stuff seemed to be on the back-burner. Was the Flow-Rider ever open this year? In the past it's been open on embark day (mostly to show it off, I think), but this year it was dead, dead, dead.

...i heard that it was expensive, so maybe that's why?

I think it's free, unless you request private lessons.

I noticed the Flow-Rider at Margaritaville was closed, which I thought was kinda funny. Not too often when a ship docks at Grand Turk with a Flow-Rider already ON the ship.

Flow rider was open every day as per the schedule provided in the daily compass and it is absolutely free.

bodomdragon wrote:Flow rider was open every day as per the schedule provided in the daily compass and it is absolutely free.

It's FREE?

If I had known that I would have tried it! Next year I go I'm doing the rock climbing and failing miserably at the Flowrider.

You should, it's a lot of fun! I usually have trouble finding a gap which is compatible with watching the bands I like and sleeping, but definitely worth a try. There are two categories, usually the first one of the day is the "lay-on-the-table" surf, which is quite easy to get the grip of (see first picture, yes, that's me) and afterwards the stand-up-surf comes (second picture, nope, not me), which is hard as hell. Make sure you try at least the first one.

Gratch wrote:...We did have occasion to see the ship's doctor on this trip. On the first day, I opened the cabin door right as my roommate was leaning over to get something out of his bag, and the doorknob hit him right above the eye. There was blood everywhere...I can only imagine what they thought might have happened in that room. The doctor was super nice, and they called multiple times over the next couple days to check on him.... .

Sorry to hear that accident happened, I hope he is ok. He may not feel so well when he gets the bill. They charge direct to the billing account for the cruise. Visits to the sickbay are very expensive. Send the charges to the insurance company for reimbursement.

Everything was on my card, but there didn't seem to be any extra charge for the doctor visit. At least that I could see...will need to keep an eye on the statement this month.